The Beginning of the Ordeal
by PolarBearMagus
Summary: Aang, like every young Airbender, must travel the world to complete tasks in an ordeal to become a true master of air. This is the story of that first task.


A/N: I wrote this for a contest on AvatarPortal, but I thought people here might like it. It's only a very long one-shot, so I didn't separate it into chapters, and it might seem daunting.

In case you're curious, the contest was to write a 500-2500 word story involving the Air Nomads. If you're even more curious, I won like the equivalent of Honorable Mention for "Best Comedic Moment."

Enjoy!

* * *

Nobody noticed when five Air Nomads stepped through the gates of the bustling port town of Taku. They all wore brown traveling cloaks, but only one of them had the blue arrow tattoos that marked an air-bending master. The other four were merely children around ten years old, and they stared wide-eyed at the crowded market.

"Now stay close," their guardian warned them as he began weaving between traders and customers alike. "Especially you, Aang." The gray-eyed boy reddened and let the cat he had been petting move on.

The children instinctively moved closer as they followed the old monk through the maze of streets. It was their first time in a major city, and there were so many things happening that it was impossible to process them all.

They stopped in front of a simple adobe building and the monk knocked on the door. A few minutes later a middle-aged woman in a plain green dress appeared, saying, "Welcome to Hualing Wayhouse! Would – Gyatso!"

The monk smiled. "Hello, Jiaying. We would appreciate a nice lunch."

"'We?'" she asked. Then she peered around him and squealed. "How _adorable_! Come in, come in!" She stood aside so they could enter the house. In the middle of the room was a low table surrounded by ragged, miss-matched cushions. A large window let in the light as well as the dust and sounds from the street.

"Don't tell me they're all yours!" Jiaying said from the kitchen in the corner as she pulled out an assortment of cooking materials.

"Just borrowed them for a few months," Gyatso admitted. He introduced them as they picked a cushion. "This is Pema, from the Eastern Air Temple." He waved towards the shorter girl, who slumped below the table until only her gray eyes were visible. "Tseten, from the Northern Air Temple." He waved towards the tallest of the group, a boy who smirked at Pema's behavior. "Dorje, from the Western Air Temple." He waved towards the second girl, who flashed a smile at Jiaying that didn't reach her dark brown eyes. "And Aang, from the Southern Air Temple," he finished, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder as he waved.

"My, what a well-traveled bunch," she observed, setting a tea pot and cups by Gyatso's elbow. "So what brings all of you to Taku?"

"Each Air Temple novice must pass an ordeal, a series of tests," Gyatso explained. He began pouring the tea. "They travel the world with novices from each of the other three Temples, and with an old geezer who pretends to keep an eye on them. It is an important spiritual journey that every novice must take in order to be a true master of air."

Jiaying raised an eyebrow. "Aren't they kind of young for that?"

"Many agree with you," Gyatso told her. "However, I believe they are as ready to face the ordeal as any novice several years older."

"And how have they done so far?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Very well, considering this is our first stop!"

Jiaying giggled. Ignoring her, Tseten glared at Gyatso. "So what's our first test? Eat with chopsticks?"

"Of course not. The test is one of balance. The four of you must demonstrate the balance of the four elements, for only when you achieve balance can you truly be at peace."

The children shared a glance, then stared at Gyatso. When he didn't continue, Dorje asked, as if speaking another language, "And how do we do that?"

"How should I know? That's something you'll have to find out on your own."

Tseten and Dorje immediately started arguing with Gyatso, while Pema stared at the table gloomily. Aang smiled as he remembered his mentor saying something similar over a Pai Sho game. They would indeed have to figure this out themselves, or there would be no point to the ordeal.

* * *

After lunch, Gyatso led them around Taku. Aang had only met the other three novices a few days earlier, and he figured now was a good time to get to know them. He approached Pema first, since she was shy, and tried to get her to talk. After a few false starts, he showed her his new marble trick, air-bending a marble between his hands. She smiled. "C-can you teach me?" she asked, blushing furiously.

"Pathetic," scoffed Tseten. "Even a baby can spin a stupid marble. I mean, if he wanted to waste his time bending it in the first place."

Pema instantly looked down at the ground, but Aang glared at the other boy. "It's just for fun," he said. "Not all bending has to save the world."

"We don't have time for fun," Dorje told him. She stood behind Tseten with her hands on her hips. "We're _supposed_ to be completing our task, not standing around chattering like a bunch of hog-monkeys."

"Uh, where's Gyatso?" asked Aang, scanning the crowd anxiously. There was no sign of him.

"Oh no," whispered Pema, and her eyes started filling with tears.

"Stop that," snapped Dorje, "he can't have gone far. You -" she tapped Tseten on the head. Hard. "-Try to find Gyatso."

"Why me?" he protested. "It's not my fault the old fool got lost!"

They started arguing. "I'll find him," Aang volunteered. He took a deep breath, preparing to shoot above the people in the street, when someone small rammed into him. Aang flailed his arms and took a few staggering steps, but managed to keep his balance.

"Watch where you're going," the someone told him.

"You're the one who ran into _him_!" Tseten said.

The four of them were surrounded by a small pack of street urchins, several years older than them. They wore torn green shirts and brown breeches, but no shoes. They were covered in dirt, and every pair of eyes had a flinty sharpness to them.

"Show some respect," one of them ordered. "You're addressing Boqin, the leader of the Nameless Gang."

"The Nameless Gang?" Aang snorted. "That's a stupid name."

"Stupid, huh?" Boqin got right up in Aang's face. "We're nameless, faceless. And once we're through with you, nobody will ever know who did it. Still think it's stupid?"

Aang clapped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late. He was already laughing. Pema, Tseten, and Dorje were also sniggering. Then they all gave up and just laughed outright.

Boqin's lip curled in a snarl. Nobody laughed at the Nameless Gang.

"This is _our_ city," he declared. "And it looks like you've overstayed your welcome." He flicked his wrist, and a small dagger appeared in his hand. The novices instantly shut up and stared apprehensively at the blade. They moved together sub-consciously as the pack began to circle them.

The boys would dart in threateningly, forcing the novices into a tighter group. One boy went for Pema, who cried out and clung to Tseten. He tried to scrape her off while the pack laughed.

The dust from the street started to rise into the air as the gang continued circling. Aang rubbed his nose as he tried to keep an eye on the leader, who grinned at the uneasy nomads.

"Leave us alone!" Dorje ordered. "You don't want to mess with us!" Aang rubbed his nose again. It was so itchy!

"You kids don't look like much of a threat," Boqin said, pausing in front of Aang. He must have given some sort of signal, because all of the boys charged at the nomads, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt.

"Ah-CHOOO!" Aang sneezed. He was thrown backwards, plowing into Pema, Tseten, and Dorje, bowling over the boys who were coming up from behind, and tumbling twenty feet across the street and down an alley.

When his eyes cleared, he saw that the leader and some of the other boys had been blasted in the opposite direction, and were staggering to their feet. Others had been forced to the sides of the street, and were rubbing bumped heads.

"What was that?" one of them yelled.

"They're air-benders!"

"Get 'em!"

"RUN!" Aang shouted. Nobody argued with him. They jumped up and took off down the alley, the boys right on their heels.

"We're trapped!" Pema screamed as a wall loomed overhead, marking the end of the alley. The four of them spun around to face the boys, who were now sauntering towards them, spreading out just inside the entrance of the alley.

The leader nodded to one of the boys. He stomped one of his feet on the ground and lifted his hands above his head. In perfect unison, a wall of earth rose from the ground at the entrance, perfectly cutting off the nomads' escape.

"We'll teach you to cross us in our territory!" the leader said.

"Now what?" cried Pema.

"Leave it to me," said Tseten, stepping out in front of the group. He took up his stance just as the earth-bender hurled a large rock at his head.

With a sharp twirl, Tseten jumped and kicked, sending a blast of air down his leg and into the rock. It exploded, its remnants raining down on both groups.

But he wasn't prepared for the second rock that came right behind it.

It slammed him into the back wall, and he slumped to the ground.

"Tseten!" Aang shouted. "Dorje, NO!"

She was charging at the gang, screaming and gathering a whirlwind of air to throw against them –

Three of the boys stepped forward, summoned another ten-foot wall, and pushed it toward the attacking girl –

Dorje stopped as the wall rushed towards her, then met it head-on with her whirlwind in a powerful gust of air. The wall slowed down, but it began to force her backwards, her shoes sliding on the dirt inch by inch.

"Come _on_!" she growled at it. "Stop moving!" She brought more air to bear on it, but only slid back a few more inches.

Tseten pushed the rock off of him. Aang helped him up, but he leaned against the wall for support. "I…I couldn't…do it," he gasped. "I fai…I failed."

Aang shook his head. "There's no way we can fight them one on one. We're going to have to work together – as a team." Something tickled the back of his mind, but he brushed it away. "I have an idea."

"Keep pushing, you idiots!" Boqin barked. The three earth-benders were straining to move the wall further back. Beads of sweat rolled down their bodies and splattered in the dust.

"Should we check it out?" one of the others asked.

Boqin surveyed the pack. They were getting bored, and four nomad kids weren't much of a threat. "Take 'em down," he ordered, and the boys ran for the wall.

Suddenly, three shadows swooped down the wall and across the ground. The pack looked up in confusion, but it was too late.

Aang blasted the ground as he landed in the middle of a circle of boys, and they flew outward, ramming into other members of the gang.

Tseten delivered another air-bending kick to the three holding the wall. With them out of the way, Dorje could air-bend over the wall herself and join the fight.

Pema tried to draw the pack's attention by weaving among the boys. The knives, rocks, and blows were always a few seconds behind.

Aang spotted Boqin near the first make-shift wall, with only a few boys between them. He grinned, and leaped over the boys in one jump, landing right in front of Boqin. The leader of the gang only had time to scowl before Aang slammed him with a blast of air.

He had forgotten about the wall.

The air rebounded against the wall and threw Aang across the alley. He managed to take out two or three boys on the way, but Boqin was already on his feet and approaching him.

Aang glanced at his friends. It seemed Tseten and Dorje were experiencing the same problem. They were both scrambling to their feet and rubbing their heads and arms.

"It's over," Boqin told him.

"Not yet!" shouted Pema.

Everyone's heads whipped around, but Pema was gone. Where she had been standing was a good-sized swirling column of wind and dust. Inside the tornado, Aang could see flashes of Pema, her hands outstretched and face bent in concentration.

Slowly, it began to expand, and the gang members backed away hurriedly. Tseten and Dorje exchanged a look, then began running around the edge of the alley. Using air-bending to go faster, they forced the boys back toward Pema's wind column.

"_Now _it's over," said Aang. In one fluid motion, he jumped, spun, and air-kicked Boqin over the wall into the street.

The Nameless Gang decided it had had enough. The earth-benders collapsed the wall and the pack stormed out of the alley, colliding with their leader and several adults as they tried to escape the whirlwinds of the nomad children.

* * *

"Ah, there you are," said an old familiar voice. "I thought I recognized that tornado."

Pema reddened, but didn't look down. The others grinned. Gyatso was standing outside the alley, his hands folded inside his sleeves. Knowing him, he had probably been there the entire time.

"You four have certainly had an exciting day. Did you learn anything useful?"

The thing that had bothered Aang clicked into place. "We've completed the task."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. The four of us, like the four elements, worked in harmony as we fought that gang. By ourselves, we were weak and over-powered. Only when we worked together could we reach our full potential!"

"What?" asked Gyatso. "Well, I guess that works. I was thinking something more along the lines of juggling a bowl, a rock, a candle, and a fan, but yours is pretty good too."

They stared at him.

"Get it? 'Balance the elements?'" He chuckled.

They continued to stare at him.

"Anyway," said Gyatso, slightly offended, "in honor of completing your first task, you will receive one of these." He indicated four staffs leaning against the building. "These are antique gliders, hand-carved by the monks, and passed down through the generations to novices on their ordeal. Use them well."

Aang chose a staff and held it carefully in his hands. It was heavier than the ones from training. But it felt right, somehow.

"It seems we still have a few hours until sunset," Gyatso said. "Why don't we fly to the next town?"

"Next town?" they asked.

"Of course," he replied. "We move ever onward, always seeking the next horizon…the next task…and the next meal."

They laughed. They were only beginning their ordeal, Aang realized, but he was glad they were traveling together.

"Aang, you coming?" Tseten called from above the rooftops. "Or does the baby not know how to use a glider?"

_Well, mostly glad_, he thought with a grin, and he snapped open his path to the skies.


End file.
